The present invention relates generally to a multi-disciplinary educational tool and specifically to methods and computer systems to simulate commodities trading, business models, history, and social studies.
Effective learning games often involve the student""s use of multiple senses such as seeing, hearing, touching and speaking. Such interactive teaching methods are more effective than mere memorization. Interactive teaching methods are known in the art. Some provide players (or students) with rewards for answering questions correctly while others involve elements of chance. Many such prior art interactive teaching methods focus on sensory perceptions. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,290,230 to Anthony involves a theme of touch while improving finger dexterity and mental imaging. To play the game, the player spins a card housing. When the card housing stops, a card is displayed in a view window. The card contains an object and a description of the object. After reading the card or touching the object on the card, the player searches for the corresponding object under a domed container in order to obtain points. The player also learns educational information about the game pieces.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,839,902 to Wood describes an electronic teaching device that provides information on various geography topics upon insertion of a card with encoded information. After the card is inserted, the device may produce a statement or sound associated with the object depicted. See also U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,846 to Lewis, U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,252 to McCrady, U.S. Pat. No. 6,045,128 to Hunt, U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,666 to Corle, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,013,048 to Turner.
Other types of games or teaching devices are designed to provide instruction about specific concepts and real life circumstances. U.S. Pat. No. 6,189,886 to Moran describes the stock market. U.S. Pat. No. 4,538,816 to Figueroa describes a game involving commodities trading.
Other subjects are also taught in the art in an interactive manner. U.S. Pat. No. 5,114,344 to Fumagalli, et al. describes a game about the environment. U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,211 to Schmoyer, et al. describes a board game designed to simulate a school system. U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,834 to Saunders describes a game to teach religious subject matter.
Most of the prior art is limited to single specific areas of education. There are no known attempts to combine several educational experiences within a single activity using player interaction and using all the senses including sight, smell, sound, and touch. An interactive tool could be engaging, while also teaching, for example, commodities, trading, business, history and social studies.
Accordingly, the present invention provides an interactive, multi-disciplinary educational tool including methods and computer systems to simulate commodities trading, business models, history, and social studies.
Specifically the invention is a multi-disciplinary educational tool that can have a plurality of commodity representations, a plurality of instruction cards, a plurality of impact cards, and at least one cargo transfer means that can be moved among a plurality of geographical regions. The multi-disciplinary educational tool can also have a playing surface representing a plurality of geographical regions. The commodity representations can represent physical samples, pictorial representations, a combination of physical samples and pictorial representations, or computer simulations of the represented commodities and the like.
The multi-disciplinary educational tool can also use a quantity of money for use during trading, wherein the quantity of money can set prices and exchange rates to the plurality of commodity representations. The multi-disciplinary educational tool can also have a plurality of impact cards that affect trading.